Commentary

BY MONISH TOURANGBAMAFTER much media speculation, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Mr Yousuf Raza Gilani did finally meet on the sidelines of the 16th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Thimpu, Bhutan.

THE national Census of India does not recognise racial or ethnic groups within India, but accepts the existence of caste groups like Scheduled Castes and Tribes. However Free India would have its first caste-based census in 2011 with the UPA government bowing to pressure from the OBC lobby.

INSTITUTIONS of higher learning in India are plagued by corruption. It is indeed shocking that in times when the thrust has been on expanding and strengthening higher education in India, the institutions entrusted with the task have miserably failed in carry out the responsibility.

Student Suicides-I
THE unfortunate death of a 16-year-old student recently, who allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself reportedly because he failed his exams, should open our eyes to the psychological needs of the young who are under a lot of stress.

BY NANDKUMAR KAMATWHAT are the immediate and long term consequences of paralysing the panchayat raj system? The immediate consequences are seen everyday–whether it is breaching of bundhs, flooding of farms, emergence of Chikungunya, controversy about alignment of the bridge over Sal river, the pollution of Colva creek or the illegal alluvial sand mining at Capao, Sao Matias and near Amona-Khandola bridge.

GOA’S Industrial Policy is for encouraging projects with high economic viability. In his budget speech the Chief Minister called for boosting industrial production and announced a task force to identify and prepare a report on under-utilised and unutilised industrial plots in the industrial estates to meet the land-needs of investors.

Environment Friendly Projects
WE are seeing an extreme boom in housing projects these days. Whether we like it or not the fact is that housing facilities make life a lot simpler and safer as they have ample parking space, electricity back-up and 24-hour security among other facilities.

BY INDER MALHOTRAIT was V P Singh, then Prime Minister, who coined the convenient expression ‘compulsions of coalition politics’. He did not elaborate but his meaning was clear: all kinds of unsavoury compromises would have to be made and loudly proclaimed high principles thrown to the winds if, in an era when coalitions had become unavoidable, unwieldy combinations of motley parties had to be kept together.

LABOUR has lost but the Conservatives got no mandate either. After 36 years Britain has a hung parliament again, which could take the UK’s troubled economy from bad to worse. Of course, the past is not necessarily a guide to the future but down the line at some level it helps to redesign and shape the policies.